My problem with Goldfinger is that Bond, the world's greatest superspy, achieves precisely fuck all apart from killing Oddjob. Oh, he does also get two sisters killed due to him being an ass. It might have all the quintessential Bond elements, but so did Moonraker (Except the car).

I'd rank the Connerys: -From Russia With Love -You Only Live Twice -Dr. No -Thunderball -Goldfinger

-Diamonds Are Forever

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"We are not safe! A dark menace rises to the east! Duckies go quack! Cows go moo! I want ice cream. Verily, will you two hobbits join my quest?"

Man in the White Suit - Good, but I always think of it as second-tier Ealing Miracle in Milan - Not bad Odd Man Out - Masterpiece Green for Danger - I like Sim more than the film A Matter of Life and Death - Superb Adam's Rib - Probably my fave of their pairings Shadow of a Doubt - It's a tribute to how great Hitchcock was that I think this film is both a masterpiece and not in his top three. The Magnificent Ambersons - See my comments on Hitchcock The Red Shoes - Just amazing The Grapes of Wrath - Not as good as the book, but still one of the greats. Ossessione - I still think this is Visconti at his best. The Maltese Falcon - I always tend to overlook some of these Bogart noirs because they're so familiar. Which is really unfair of me because it's an amazing film. Definitely one of the best of the decade. Whisky Galore - Just lovely The Spiral Staircase - Superb choice Unfaithfully Yours - One of my favourite Sturges' films. The Shop Around the Corner - One of the great romantic comedies The Thief of Baghdad - One of the great fantasies Sullivan's Travels - I like it a lot, but there's a lot of Sturges I prefer The Big Sleep - See The Maltese Falcon The Palm Beach Story - My favourite Preston Sturges film. Black Narcissus - Masterpiece Red River - A film I think I need to revisit at some point His Girl Friday - Too low Night Train to Munich - I didn't like it as much as I was hoping I would. But still good. The Philadelphia Story - Wonderful The Killers - A film I like, but don't love Bicycle Thieves - Excellent Notorious - Always good to see love for Notorious Colonel Blimp - Probably my second favourite P&P Kind Hearts - One of the greatest films ever made, Ealing's finest. Meet Me in St. Louis - One of my favourite musicals Casablanca - I like it a lot, I just don't have the same love for it others do. The Lady Eve - My second favourite Sturges Rebecca - Very atmospheric, not one of my favourite Hitchcock films though To Be Or Not To Be - One of the great comedies The Third Man - Perfect Laura - Singapore Sling is better. Le Corbeau - Wonderful choice Double Indemnity - One of the best films ever made Les Enfants - Wouldn't be that high for me, but still wonderful.

High Noon - It's ok, it just never really made me care about any of the characters The Big Heat - I think I may have forgotten to vote for this on my 50s list. Ashes and Diamonds - Amazing, but not my favourite of the War trilogy Harvey - Just adorable The Asphalt Jungle - Fantastic little noir A Night to Remember - Better than Titanic Orpheus - Magical Ikiru - Should have been higher Night of the Hunter - One of cinema's great nightmare fairy-tales The Wages of Fear - Gripping The African Queen - I've tried several times, but could never see why it's so highly acclaimed Tokyo Story - Amazing North by Northwest - See above Man of the West - One of Mann's finest. Pickup - I love Fuller, not my favourite of his, but a great film. Lola Montes - Not sure if I've seen Bad Day at Black Rock - Excellent, saw it when I was very young and it's always stuck with me East of Eden - Never used to care for it, but a rewatch a year or two back saw it shoot up in my estimation The Golden Coach - Needs a rewatch Jour de Fete - Excellent film, but wrong decade. Wild Strawberries - My favourite Bergman The Ladykillers - My second favourite Ealing Odds Against Tomorrow - That should be in my rewatch pile Bridge on the River Kwai - Always liked Guinness more than the film, and I can only ever see the film in Count Arthur Strong terms these days. Madame De... - Great choice Shane - Not a huge fan, and the Bill Hicks riff on it tends to come to mind more than the film itself Strangers on a Train - Tense little thriller All About Eve - Was actually thinking last night of dragging it out for a rewatch when Halloween is over The Lavender Hill Mob - One of the first films I can remember seeing Vertigo - Hitchcock's second greatest Some Like It Hot - One of the funniest films I've ever seen Les Diaboliques - Superb Le Plaisir - Again, don't think I've seen. Winchester - Mann and Stewart together are always worth watching Gigi - Not a fan The Cranes Are Flying - Excellent M. Hulot's Holiday - Charming Singin in the Rain - Possibly the finest musical ever. Up there with The Band Wagon. Rio Bravo - One of Wayne's best. The Searchers - A rewatch for it did wonders. Smiles of a Summer Night - Never a Bergman I rated that highly, maybe needs another go. The Band Wagon - Yep, love it. The 400 Blows - How can anyone dislike this film? Oh hi, Gimli. Anatomy of a Murder - Just missed on my 50s list, stunning film though. Rear Window - Hitchcock's finest Touch of Evil - One of Welles' greatest Forbidden Games - I like, but never saw it as the classic of cinema most seem to. Seven Samurai - Not my favourite Kurosawa, but always floating around my top 50 films ever. Ballad of a Soldier - Stunning La Ronde - Not seen in some time, needs a rewatch.

Dr. No - I'm not a big fan of Bond, but I do like this one. Baby Jane - So grotesque. Fun though. Ride the High Country - A very good film, although I tend to put it towards the bottom when it comes to Peckinpah The Exterminating Angel - I love this film. Bullit - Was never a huge fan Butch Cassidy - This is how you make a buddy film. Hud - Some of the finest acting of the decade. Liberty Valance - I think this is one of the few Wayne films even Dev' could tolerate. Goldfinger - Again, I like, but I'm guessing from your comment elsewhere in the thread that my favourite Bond won't be in the list. They Shoot Horses - Again, some magnificent performances Long Day's Journey - Very good, gives me hope we might see an even greater Eugene O'Neill/Jason Robards 60s film in the list. (Well, tele-film) Z - Excellent Viridiana - Lots of Bunuel I like more, but still excellent. The Bad Sleep Well - Excellent choice Spartacus - My least favourite Kubrick by some distance Tom Jones - It's ok, it's a huge come-down from the film Richardson made a year earlier though, and his entire career to that point. The Graduate - One of those films that you think should feel like a time-capsule, but it's still full of life. La Dolce Vita - I only ever liked a handful of Fellini films, but I tried a few rewatches recently of some of the ones that didn't work for me in the past, and I'm liking them a lot more. Haven't got to this yet. Midnight Cowboy - Good in parts Targets - Excellent choice, thrilled to see this here.

I do it all the time, I had both Orpheus and Rocking Horse Winner in the wrong decade on my own lists. And films seem to jump between years a lot if you use something like IMDB as a guide. It's a nightmare keeping things in the right year.

The Apartment is brilliant and I wasn't as big a fan of Jules and Jim and Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf as I thought I'd be. The more I thought about them after I'd seen them the less I liked them for some reason.

Anyway, I like Spartacus but it wouldn't make my Top 5 Kubrick, The Graduate is quite good and Midnight Cowboy is great but the performances in it outshine the film itself.

It's the only film of Kubrick's that I have any time for, and thus the only one to make any of the lists.

Even Paths of Glory?

Even Paths Of Glory. It's all a bit obvious and manipulative for my taste. Plus Kirk Douglas makes a spectacularly unconvincing French colonel.

I've heard the French colonel argument before and it is a fair criticism And fair enough I suppose, I was pretty moved by Paths Of Glory but I guess it's not for everyone.

I've kind of got a vested interest in standing up for Paths of Glory. But anyway.... and spoilers ahoy for anyone who cares

I'd take issue with the "its a bit obvious". How can I put this... I think you are slightly more culturally enriched than most people and therefore your angle of viewing things may be slightly different to many, but I find almost the complete opposite to be the case. There is a scene when I think pretty much everyone watching the film thinks that justice will prevail. That the true story has been unearthed and this will be listened to and a reprieve will follow. The fact that it does not I find pretty jaw dropping. I just think that Hollywood makes that film you get one direction, Kubrick makes an antiwar film you get another. Even the ending is beautifully balanced. Where there is peace and harmony there is also persecution and (I can't think of a better word so bear with me) slavery.

The Kirk Douglas argument I have more time for. I was never a fan of his, and spent a long time thinking that he could not act at all. Then I watched Ace in the Hole and he won me right over. And I followed that up with Detective Story and Out of the Past. I started to see an actor as well as a Hollywood bigshot. And I do think that if you can look beyond it being Kirk Douglas he does a good job in Paths of Glory. I'll still hold my hand up that I'd prefer someone else in the role, but I suspect the film would never have been made if Douglas hadn't have signed on.

Finally is it manipulative. Yes it is. But I think there is a bigger manipulation than the one you mean. For me its one of the great pieces of cinematography. You've got the constant right to left movement of men in the trenches, which is quite unnerving in a culture where we are used to progress presented as left to right. You've got the beautiful overhead shot of Dax in the chateau on the black and white tiles, looking like a chess piece. So I think there is a lot of subtle manipulation of the viewer via the shots that for me is actually quite deep and dark. And the more obvious manipulation. Well it gets me mad as hell and sad as hell at the same time. These are two pretty big and not perfectly aligned emotions, so I think that the criticism that its manipulative is actually a compliment that it manipulates so well.

Prof - as always, you present some very intelligent and well thought through arguments, but I'm afraid you haven't won me over. I've seen the film three times, and each time it has left me feeling that had it opted for a more subtle approach, rather than ramming its message home like a sledgehammer - as Spielberg is so often guilty of - it would have moved me far more than it does, and would have been a far more effective anti war message. As far as anti war films are concerned, both A Very Long Engagement - which deals in part with a similar situation - and the beautiful, heartbreaking Ballad Of A Soldier have far more impact. Kirk Douglas is an actor I have always admired, however I stick by my comment that he was miscast, although you are probsbly absolutely correct in saying that the film probably wouldn't have got off the ground without his participation. Finally, thanks for the very flattering compliment. Not sure that I deserve it, but I'm grateful nonetheless.

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"Premeditated murder is one thing, but I will not have lying in this house."

Marriage is one of those things that is best gotten over with in youth - like chicken pox.

Badlands would be my pick so far. I'm not the biggest fan of Malick, I find that his films look beautiful, but I find it hard to engage with some of his characters. Ironically, this is probably the biggest benefit of Badlands. From what I know of the real pair the film is based on, he was completely detached from his killings. The result is a very different film to killers on the run films that have gone before like Gun Crazy and Bonnie and Clyde where you get much more tied up in the protagonists.

Like you, I'm not the biggest fan of Malick. As you say, his films are always good to look at, but in most cases fail in three of the criteria which for me make a film a worthwhile experience. Firstly, I find his films to be rather cold, so they fail in the main to engage me emotionally; the exceptions being Badlands and The Thin Red Line, parts of which I find intensely moving. Secondly, again with the exception of The Thin Red Line, I find it difficult to empathise with any of his characters. And finally, the two films mentioned are the only ones of his that I would ever care to revisit. Sorry that you've seen so few of the films in the 70's list so far. In putting it together and reviewing it I was a little worried that it could be seen as somewhat elitist, due to the fact that so much of it tends to fall into the category of Art House Cinema. However, I can assure you that there are considerably more mainstream films included higher up the list.

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"Premeditated murder is one thing, but I will not have lying in this house."

Marriage is one of those things that is best gotten over with in youth - like chicken pox.

I think the Godfather is brilliant, it would be my number 1. But moving on...

... The Conversation is a really, really good piece. I think Gene Hackman tends to be a tad under rated. Quite rightly the current HoF is lauding a brilliant performance in The Royal Tenenbaums. For my money his Little Bill in Unforgiven is his best role, but I really like the work he does in The Conversation.

I'm afraid I found Dog Day Afternoon one of the biggest let downs of my movie viewing times. I just didn't get it.

Life Of Brian is brilliant but I prefer Holy Grail. I love Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, Jaws I haven't seen in about 6 years so I can't really comment and Manhattan is my favourite Allen film.